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- Title
Building Family Relationships With Inherited Stepgrandparents.
- Authors
Sanner, Caroline; Ganong, Lawrence; Coleman, Marilyn; Chapman, Ashton; Kang, Youngjin
- Abstract
Objective: To understand how, and under what conditions, stepgrandchildren build and maintain familial ties with inherited stepgrandparents, using symbolic interaction theory as a lens. Background: High rates of divorce and remarriage coupled with increases in longevity suggest that more children have stepgrandparent relationships than ever before. Stepgrandparents, who are the parents of a stepparent (i.e., inherited stepgrandparents), have been hypothesized to play key roles in shaping stepfamily life, but little is known about how stepgrandchildren develop close, family‐like intergenerational steprelationships after a parent's remarriage. Method: Forty‐three adult stepgrandchildren (15 men, 28 women) were interviewed about their relationships with 131 inherited stepgrandparents. Grounded theory procedures were used to collect and analyze the data. Results: Four key processes were identified that served as markers of kinship and facilitated the development of close familial ties: (a) stepgrandchildren feeling affectionate toward middle‐generation stepparents, (b) stepgrandparents engaging in affinity‐building efforts, (c) stepgrandchildren evaluating affinity‐building efforts favorably, and (d) biological parents using age‐effective strategies to facilitate relationship development. Conclusion: Stepgrandchildren actively construct their relationships with stepgrandparents using symbols available to them, which are influenced by third parties such as parents and stepparents. When stepgrandchildren claim stepgrandparents as family, they perceive benefits. Implications: Intergenerational stepfamily relationships may be valuable resources for children whose parents divorce and remarry.
- Subjects
STEPFAMILIES; GRANDPARENTS; FAMILY relations; SYMBOLIC interactionism; DATA analysis; KINSHIP
- Publication
Family Relations, 2019, Vol 68, Issue 4, p484
- ISSN
0197-6664
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/fare.12381